Chapter 683: Get Ready (3)

“Is Deokgu going to be late?”

“I… I think he’s coming after his training. From what I heard, he’s making up for the shortage of people… Oh, he just arrived.”

‘That bastard arranged this event, but he’s the one showing up late.’

“You can go ahead and wait. What about Hayan? Are you all right?”

“What? Oh… yes, I’m fine, yes.”

Jung Hayan nodded as if nothing was wrong with her.

In fact, it was a question that didn’t need to be asked. I knew Jung Hayan’s condition the best.

I diagnosed her mental state as a little unstable, but she didn’t show a cornered response. Perhaps it was because of the long time she spent with me.

Of course, her condition was better when I was together with her. Still, Han Sora, who used to be with her all day, couldn’t be easily forgotten.

Hayan pretended as if she didn’t care, as if it didn’t matter, and that she was done with Han Sora, But I could see that she was having a hard time trying to hold on.

‘I think I’ll be uncomfortable.’

To be honest, it was indeed a little uncomfortable.

It was good for all the guild members to get together, but as you know, Jung Hayan and Han Sora were in a state of desperation.

The two had been completely separated since the last big fight.

Of course, there had been occasions when Han Sora sometimes sent messages asking about Jung Hayan’s condition or when Jung Hayan wrote and erased messages of apology to Han Sora. Still, on the surface, they were in a cold war.

Imagine a situation in which two people didn’t even look into each other’s eyes at a place where they sat together with their mutual group. Even I was starting to feel awkward.

Sure enough, Jung Hayan seemed quite nervous.

“Is… Is Sora coming?”

“Of course she’ll come. Sora is also a guild member. Why don’t we take this opportunity to have a proper conversation?”

“No, no, I won’t.”

“…”

“I-it doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t care… I don’t know her anymore anyway. I really don’t care anymore.”

‘No, I think you do care.’

At least she seemed to be wondering how Sora was doing.

One of Jung Hayan’s main concerns was how close she got to Park Mijin. In that situation, it wouldn’t be bad to explode after the guild meeting that day.

I was about to go in with Jung Hayan with such useless thoughts.

“Vice Guild Master.”

I heard a voice from somewhere. As soon as I turned my head, a doll with a slightly vague expression became visible.

Jung Hayan also looked back together, slightly bending tilting her head.

“Team leader Kim Mi-young. It’s been a while. How have you been?”

“Yes, thanks for asking… Anyway, I’d like to talk to you a little.”

“Oh… if you’re not busy, will it be okay after the meal is over?”

“It’s an important issue… I’m very sorry to say this, but if you could just give me a minute…”

“Yes, well, then…”

I glanced at Jung Hayan. She nodded like an adult, but I didn’t feel too good about it.

That was because I was worried about the situation if Jung Hayan and Han Sora met while I wasn’t around. We had also arrived earlier than the appointment, so I was worried that Han Sora might be waiting alone in there.

“Inside…”

“The Guild Master has been waiting for us since earlier.”

“Oh, yeah, well, let’s go for a second. Hayan, you go in first. I won’t be long.”

“Okay… okay.”

“So, what’s wrong?”

“It’s not as big a problem as you think, but I think you should know… I’d like to say I’m sorry again. It’s been a while since you had a vacation…”

“No, if it’s urgent, I have to do something about it.”

“It’s probably not a big deal… Well, wait a minute.”

She looked a little nervous. I was worried if anything really happened… Unexpectedly, what was visible was Benignore Net’s chat log.

I understood why she called me separately when I read the log, thinking that she had too much work to do.

‘What’s this?’

Rather, I thought it was natural to report. I thought everyone in the room would’ve been surprised. It wasn’t strange at all, even though we would be frightened and would launch an investigation.

Of course, from the perspective of posting that as a report, she might be worried that she’d be a fool who responded to Benignore Net’s crap, but…

‘That’s why you’re nervous.’

I knew she had to react sensitively to even a small variable, so she posted a report despite the anxiety.

Perhaps the first thing that caught her eye was the word, gray child. It wasn’t publicly known that Raphael managed to maintain his presence with life support.

Even…

‘They talked about the Guardians of the Continent.’

“I wish it were a simple error, but… There’s something I don’t understand. I checked Benignore Net directly just in case, but it says it’s an ID that’s not on the server, and it’s not on the tracking network. It’s also clear that it broke through the server from the outside, but there was no sign of it anywhere.”

“Did you check it out with Max?”

“Yes.”

“Who found this?”

“I got a tip-off anonymously. I didn’t try to find it, but if you want…”

“No, well, you don’t have to go that far. I don’t think you have to worry about it. Please discard this report as of this time, and remove all the records on Benignore Net. Let the people in the same room and the staff who posted the report join us.”

“Yes.”

“That’s all you need to do. We only need to take care of it within tomorrow, so you’d better take a rest today.”

“No, I’ll join you after I’ve done what you ordered.”

“Yes, if that’s convenient for you. Then I’ll wait.”

“Yes.”

“…”

“…”

Perhaps relieved by the news that it was nothing, team leader Kim Mi-young noticeably brightened.

I acknowledged her with a smile as if it was okay, but I couldn’t stay still from the report’s perspective.

‘This…’

“…”

‘I think this is Lucifer…’

I wasn’t sure, but I thought that was the most likely possibility.

‘I’m pretty sure…’

Of course, it was not entirely unlikely that it’s someone else, but it didn’t feel like the one behind this was even human.

An ordinary person couldn’t just break through Benignore Net, all the more so if they did it without Max knowing.

First, it occurred to me that humans would be one of the two camps outside the rice field, but it was certainly not like the light.

If so, the only thing that stood on the line of dragons was the devil’s side. Of course, only one devil could play such a joke that damaged the eyes of the light.

‘I was wondering what you were up to.’

Was she playing in a place like that?

She enjoyed her hobbies, and she liked to watch things after thinking about them, so it wasn’t incompatible. The same was true of absurdity.

I couldn’t figure out why he showed his presence once in that way. Of course, it could be a mere farce. Frankly, there was a high probability of that.

It wasn’t worth thinking about, and I wanted to throw a piece of rice cake at Benignore Net.

However, thinking the being behind it was Lucifer, I started feeling weird about it.

Did I feel like that when I played a board game with Jin Qing?

“I don’t have to put meaning to this. Sh*t. I just wanted to play.”

Even the evaluation wasn’t that good.

Jung Hayan jumping over the wall was already scheduled, and there was nothing wrong with the big picture Lee Kiyoung was drawing.

‘Let’s not worry about it. Yeah.’

“No, how can you not care? Sh*t, you’ve been stabbed in the back.”

If I looked at the fact that there was nothing wrong with the last log, she probably wanted to show her presence that time.

It was unblocked, and we couldn’t even find the ID. It’s like shouting, ‘Look at this.’

There were a lot of fun parts, but the part that caught my eye was the following.

[What I’m most curious about is what kind of choice Kim Hyunsung will make. Whatever it is, it’s not a bad bet for me, but it’s also quite surprising that Lee Kiyoung threw the dice…]

I didn’t know what they were talking about. What kind of choice would Kim Hyunsung make?

Light or darkness, the continent or light Kiyoung?

“Not a bad bet for Lucifer herself, huh?”

It might’ve been a cliche, but she and I had never made a bet. Likewise, I’d never even thrown a dice.

“Did you express that you were all in on the continent as throwing a dice or gambling that you chose to keep Hyunsung alive?”

Didn’t it sound like she was saying there was a bet with her, and I threw the dice?

Just like the relationship between Jung Hayan and Han Sora, Lucifer’s friendship is running toward the Cold War.

I haven’t talked to Lucifer separately since the Doom Hyunsung incident.

She never approached me first, and I never approached her first. I didn’t know why that crazy crow was doing that all of a sudden, but I was sure there had to be something.

‘Ah, sh*t. Isn’t this a big deal?’

Would that be how Kim Hyunsung, who had been stabbed in the back by garbage countless times, would react? I got hit in the back of the head once, and everything suddenly felt suspicious.

‘No wonder people get PTSD.’

At that point, I was starting to form suspicions about Kim Hyunsung.

[No matter what the result is…]

‘What result are we talking about?’

I didn’t even know what she was talking about. If I thought about it as it was, it would mean the continent’s fate, but I couldn’t stand it because the words Kim Hyunsung and bet she threw before were bothering me.

“Sh*t.”

‘There’s a sense of incompatibility.’

The reason was unknown. However, I certainly felt at odds with myself.

I didn’t know if it had been right to give that example, but the situation felt foggy.

I didn’t think the reason why we didn’t accept common words, in general, was because we had PTSD.

The cause was clearly with me. Apparently, Lucifer and I made a bet.

I wasn’t sure until that moment, but that made me feel like I should know.

Should I dig a little more? Shouldn’t I check what was going on?

‘No, don’t do it.’

What?

‘Don’t do it.’

It was when I was holding on to my head for a moment. I could feel someone’s eyes looking at me.

As I turned my head in a hurry, Cho Hyejin was looking at me blankly, realizing that the memory loss hadn’t been completely solved yet.

Cho Hyejin approached me with a sad expression when I took my hand off my head.

“This…”

“What… What is it? I’m not sick right now.”

“Take this.”

“Hyejin? What’s this?”

‘What, you look so sad. You’re tearing up, Sh*t.’

“I don’t know.”

“Why would you give this?”

“I don’t know. You, the Vice Guild Master, delivered this to me.”

“When did I?”

“You told me not to say anything.”

“What are you talking about? Are you high, Hyejin?”

“It’s not like that. Really, you told me not to talk, not to tell you anything. If I see you grabbing your head or look nervous, you told me to give this to you.”

“No, what nonsense…?”

Cho Hyejin gave a note.

When I opened the note with half a doubt, I understood what happened at once.

What I saw was familiar handwriting. There’s no way that I didn’t know about that. It’s obvious that it was my own handwriting.

-Don’t try to remember. It’s a bet to win if you keep going.

I still didn’t remember, but I could tell one thing.

“Fucking sh*t…”

That meant that I had met Lucifer once again.

“Ha…”

I had erased my memories myself.